


Roses

by mage_cat



Series: Mending Bridges [4]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:34:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24082921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mage_cat/pseuds/mage_cat
Summary: Perfuma seeks common ground with the Rebellion's newest member.Set after "Once a Force Captain".
Relationships: Catra & Perfuma, Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Series: Mending Bridges [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683547
Comments: 14
Kudos: 119





	Roses

Catra walked into one of Bright Moon’s more secluded gardens, steeling herself for another tense but polite half-hour or so. Glimmer and Scorpia insisted that the rest of the Alliance would come around if she spent more time around them, but that didn’t stop her heart from pounding in her chest and her mind from running through all the ways things could go wrong when she had to deal with princesses. Knowing that someone who had her back was there helped. Seeing that Perfuma was alone with neither of Catra’s usual backers in sight nearly made Catra turn on her heel, but Perfuma’s voice told her she was caught.

“The time I gave to Scorpia is an hour from now. I wanted a chance to talk to you in private.”

Catra walked closer and crossed her arms over her chest. “Then talk”

“I think we could be friends. I also think you don’t trust it when people like you, and I’m hoping to dispel some negative energy by explaining myself.” She sat on the grass and gestured to invite Catra to sit facing her. “Will you humor me?”

Catra sat as Perfuma fished something out of her pocket and pressed it into the ground between them.

“I think the soil we grew in and the way we were tended were a lot more different than our seeds. Are you familiar with roses?”

“Type of flower. Right?”

A sprout began to grow.

“The flower is the first thing most people think of. There have been gardeners that spent lifetimes breeding them to bloom in different colors or with more petals.”

An orange blossom with layer upon layer of petals emerged from a bud.

“Just as important in making a rose a rose, though, are the thorns.” The stem of the plant erupted in inch-long spikes. “And the healthiest roses are fed with blood.” Perfuma smirked. “People forget that plants can be vicious.”

She looked wistfully at the tiny rose bush. “My father was never comfortable with having a rose for a daughter. He was more like ivy, tenacious but... by the time it was just him and me, the fight had gone out of him. I think he had fought so hard and lost too much. He thought if I wasn’t a fighter, I might not lose so badly. Out of love, he tried to strip my thorns and encourage my flowers. Some of it was necessary--I ran wild after Mama died--but I do think he went too far. Fighting in the Alliance has meant a lot to me.” Her eyes were back on Catra now. “When I watch you--especially when I watch you with Scorpia--I wonder what I might have been like if I was raised by someone who tried to strip my flowers and encourage my thorns instead. Maybe one rose to another, we can understand each other?”

Catra hugged one knee to her chest. “Adora and Scorpia were raised in the same place I was. They didn’t turn out like me.”

“The seeds we start from are important too. I don’t think of either of them as roses. They’re more like hardwood trees. They survive by being hard to move, rather than having anything sharp about them. Adora is like an oak, golden wood and broad spreading branches that want to shield us all. Scorpia is like a cherry tree, darker, red-toned wood and branches covered in pale, delicate blossoms that turn into sweet fruit.”

Catra suspected it wasn’t the thought of cherries alone that had made her voice turn so soft. “Do you have a thing for Scorpia?”

Perfuma looked at her hands in her lap as though that would hide how her tanned cheeks were turning noticeably pink. “I think her heart is elsewhere.”

Catra fingered the petals of the orange rose. If roses came in as many colors as Perfuma said, she had likely chosen one the color of Catra’s magic on purpose. “I know there are things Scorpia wants from me. I also know I’m not ready to give them to her. I might never be ready to give them to her, but she still deserves them. If someone else is willing and able to give her those things, she has my support.” She raised her eyes back up to meet Perfuma’s. “But if you hurt her, I will make you regret it.”

“That sounds fair.” She stood up. “May I give you a hug? You always look like you could use more hugs in your life.”

“Sure.” She stood up and let her have at it. As she awkwardly returned the embrace she noticed something. “What do I smell in your pocket?”

Perfuma stepped back. “Oh! That. I was going to offer you a calming tea I find helpful. Then I remembered that, while one of the ingredients is a mild sedative for most people, feline species often have a very different reaction, so I wanted to check with you first. How do you react to catnip?” At Catra’s shrug, Perfuma pulled a small cloth ball out of her pocket. “Give it a light sniff.”

Catra took it and did so. Her pupils opened so wide that her eyes become almost entirely black. “Alright, this is good, but the total opposite of relaxing.”

Perfuma chuckled softly. “Duly noted. If you put it away, the feeling should fade in a couple of minutes. The aftereffects actually should leave you feeling pretty mellow for a while.

As Catra tucked it away in her pocket, Perfuma continued. “You know, with what’s happened with the Heart and the Runestones, I realized I might need to be able to fight without my magic one day. We were all drained for while you and Glimmer were... elsewhere. Would you be willing to give me some help with that later? I suspect that I might adapt to your hand-to-hand style better than Adora’s. In exchange, I could walk you through some meditations that I find helpful. Maybe the two of us can work out a balance between our flowers and our thorns together.”

Catra grinned. “I think I might like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> There comes a time in a writer's life when she wants to write a character who embodies are teenage anger issues sitting down and making friends with a character who embodies her adult coping mechanisms. Thank you all for indulging me while I do so.


End file.
